Barney Wiget's Blog, page 35

Nobody Likes A Condescending Spiritual Expert

“Befriending someone merely so you can tell them the gospel is a form of manipulation and a violation of trust,” says Christopher Heuertz. “Some of our approaches to conversion have earned the mistrust of the very people we want to reach.” Treat people as people, not like evangelistic targets. Nobody likes to be targeted.

We’re conditioned to make friends with those with whom we have the most in common. The weakness of that strategy is our criteria for commonality, which is often as shallow and incidental as socioeconomic, ethnic, and external appearance considerations. We have to look beneath exterior casing and financial portfolio factors, and explore into deeper parts where you’ll find the divine imprint. This is our common bond.

James gives us a good place to begin forming mutually beneficial relationships “Be quick to listen and slow to speak.” (James 1:19) … If there’s anything that keeps Rahabs from Christ, it’s patronizing spiritual experts.

– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends

The Apology We’ve Been Waiting For!

I’m sorry for lying about my belief that the first black president was actually born in Africa.

I’m sorry for claiming that Mexicans coming across our border are rapists and murderers.

I’m sorry for my complicity in stoking racial divisions in this country.

I’m sorry for making a white supremacist my campaign’s chief strategist.

I’m sorry for leading rage-filled rallies stoking hate against my political foes and people of color.

I’m sorry to the green-card holders for detaining them in airports just because of their country of origin.

I’m sorry for obfuscating about the racism that killed an innocent woman in Charlottesville.

I’m sorry that I called some countries “shithole countries.”

I’m sorry for telling four women of color who serve in Congress that they should go back to where they came from.

I’m sorry to those I have treated as subhuman because they came from Muslim countries, or countries in Central America.  

I’m sorry to all the Americans whose family members couldn’t come to see them because we put a ban on travel from Muslim countries.

I’m sorry for lying about the number of terrorists and diseased people coming into our country through a southern border caravan.

I’m sorry for sharing a false story about a “prayer rug” found miles from the border.

I’m sorry that I lied about the number of white people murdered by blacks.

I’m sorry about my coded racist remarks against black athletes, congress members, and urban communities in specific.

I’m sorry that I made joked about people in the Florida panhandle murdering immigrants.

I’m sorry for all the hateful remarks I’ve made on social media about my political opponents, calling them names, and denigrating their intelligence and patriotism.

I’m sorry that I have labeled all those coming to our country for safety and a better life as invaders and an infestation.

Finally!

Wait. These aren’t the words or sentiments of POTUS?

Oh well. Wishful thinking. I guess we’ll just have to wait a little longer.

“When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding. Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:12-13

The Trustworthy Bridge

You’ve probably seen this diagram before. It’s a great graphic, actually. But since mistrust for Christians and our churches has become its own chasm, a pre-chasm if you will, something often has to be done about bridging that before a person is even willing to hear about the sin chasm and trust the cross to save them. And no amount of slick evangelistic techniques or impressive apologetics will span the gap that can only be corrected by trust.

Since bridges are built over time, and most of our evangelistic encounters are brief, how can we prove to people that we’re worthy of their trust? We can’t expect to overcome years of dashed trust to be remedied in one conversation.

Have integrity. Be patient.

– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends

Restoring the “Good” in Good News

Identifying as “Christian” makes us complicit in the debacles committed by other Christians in the world yesterday, today, and forever. Object to it all you want but our track record is entwined with everyone else who identifies as Christian. Sure, we’ve contributed mountains of good to the world but we’ve also dumped a lot of crap on it! And since the latter out-smells the former, that’s what people think of when we treat them like projects and say with a smile, “Would you like to hear the Good News?”

We’ve got a lot of work to do to re-earn their trust.

– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends

Bask in Beauty

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

There’s so much ugliness in the world, it helps me to spend time thinking on the lovely things. If I don’t make sure to experience and meditate on what is still lovely in this world I can get pretty overwhelmed with all that’s so unpleasant.

Lately I’ve been experiencing a lot of sadness about all the suffering in the world and simultaneously I feel an equal amount of madness about people who contribute to it. Not all suffering is the fault of other people, but a lot of it is, and when it is I get angry. I hope it’s a righteous rather than a self-righteous indignation, but sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. Some would say that I appear to be obsessed in my sadness and anger, and though I try not to be, sometimes I think they’re right.

On “whatsoever things are lovely,” 19th century commentator Albert Barnes wrote: “A Christian should not be sour, crabby, or irritable in his temper – for nothing tends so much to injure the cause of religion as a temper always chafed; a brow morose and stern; an eye that is severe and unkind, and a disposition to find fault with everything. A sour and crabby temper in a professor of religion will undo all the good that he attempts to do.” Lord, help me!

Thankfully, he is helping me and I’m finding a fair amount, if not an intermittent sense of relief in beauty, enjoying what is “lovely.” My favorite sources of therapeutic beauty in this world of ugliness are hanging out with my granddaughters, experiencing creation, and listening to music.

Playing with these two precious little girls reminds me to be simple, and that not everything in life has to be all complicated and confusing. Walking among the ancient redwoods which live and breathe a mere 100 yards from my front door refreshes my anguished soul and speaks of the Creator’s eye for ageless beauty. And last but not least, music washes over my anxious mind like a waterfall on a sweltering day.

The sources of beauty that serve as a tonic to your soul might be other things entirely. Visual art, dance, poetry, literature…? Whatever it is that replenishes your joy in God and in humanity, take time to meditate on and expose yourself to it and see if it doesn’t right your flight for the rest of the day.

[See some other thoughts on “Things to Think”: whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure…]

Stay tuned for “whatever is admirable”…

The Necessity of Authenticity

Does it bother you that when they think about Christians a lot of people see us as angry, judgmental, right-wing finger-pointers with political agendas? You might not think this is a fair characterization; but it’s a reputation that, by association, is ours. Maybe it’s true that for every individual who earned the world’s mistrust there are ten legitimate Christ followers who deserve a better rap. Problem is, it’s harder to unlearn something wrong than to learn it right the first time. Helping our culture unlearn their notions about us and, more importantly, notions about Jesus, is an uphill battle.

We can’t very well expect people to trust our Christ if they’re all gummed up with mistrust for his followers. We have to find ways to earn their trust back.

– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends

Re-earning Trust

 

Once upon a time most people trusted Christians, preachers, and churches. That time has pretty much passed as their trust has evaporated under the scorching heat of our hypocrisy. We live in an age of distrust and suspicion, especially when it comes to the Church and its spokespersons and it’s mostly our fault.

“They usually only see the ways the bride acts in ways that doesn’t honor the groom.” Dan Kimball

This is one of our biggest obstacles in our attempts to offer Jesus to people––they don’t trust us. And if they don’t trust the messenger it’s going to be a long dusty road for them to come to trust the message. When trust has not yet been established, lostness feels like wise skepticism and right thinking. Trust isn’t handed over like a bagel with cream cheese in exchange for a couple bucks plus tax. It’s earned. That’s the rule.

– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friend

The Essence of Good News Bearing

Irrespective of color, status, or lifestyle everyone deserves to be treated with civility. And there’s nothing more equalizing than the gospel and no one like the Maker of humans to humanize the dehumanized.

Rahabs of all sorts need friends––sincere, non-judgmental friends––a rare possession of the dehumanized, to be sure. “Othering” people and befriending them are contradictory behaviors. Friends don’t refer to their friends as inanimate objects: “Those gays, those homeless, those democrats…”

Human warmth is not the norm for society’s throwaways, whose ability to connect with others on a deep level is damaged. They’re wrecked for authentic human connection altogether, which gives us all the more reason to be safe enough for them to give connection a try.

Is this not the very essence of good news bearing?

– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends

Pondering Things Pure

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.” Romans 12:2 (The Message)

Paul prescribes a number of things to meditate on in order to maintain a healthy mindset and keep from sinking into a black hole of despair and disrepair. Following what is true and noble and right he recommends thoughts that are “pure.” What is purity and where do we find it?

Among other things, purity has to do with a lack of competing agendas. “Pure gold” is just that, nothing but gold. It contains no other metals. To be pure is to have one purpose. Dawson Trotman, Founder of the Navigators ministry drowned while saving a girl’s life. At his funeral, Billy Graham gave the eulogy and said, “Here was a man who did not say, ‘These forty things I dabble at,’ but ‘This one thing I do.’” That’s purity.

How would you boil your life’s purpose down to one thing? What is your one agenda? “This one thing I do,” wrote Paul. “One thing I have desired,” sang David. Most of us would have a hard time reducing our life’s purpose to ten things let alone one thing. If we were honest we’d have to say, “This is one of the many things that I do, one of several things that define my life on earth.”

As with everything, meditating on Jesus, the Lamb of God without blemish or defect (1 Peter 1:19) is a good place to begin. Though none of us on this side of glistening with glory perfectly resembles the purity of the Son of God, we might shoot for the moon and if we hit the trees at least we got airborne!

I find it helpful to think about the lives of certain people that begin to approximate the purity of Jesus. I’m not into praying to saints or anything, but there is great value in acknowledging and concentrating on lives well lived. Saint John, Saint Francis, Mother Teresa, John of the Cross, Saint Clare of Assisi are a few that come to mind. Make your own list of less than perfect, yet more than most, examples of purity and meditate on their lives as primer to inspire you.

Lean into the way the Father sees you in Jesus: “altogether beautiful and without flaw” (Song of Songs 4:7), “holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:22).

Oftentimes when I am in the manifest presence of God I experience him almost whispering those adoring thoughts to my spirit. While I’m not worthy of such pure love, I don’t turn down the opportunity to luxuriate in it.

Those are examples of the sort of pure thoughts that crowd out most of my impure ones––for the moment anyway.

So, take a few minutes and immerse yourself in the purity of Jesus, in the exemplary pure lives of others, and in the Father’s pure love for you.

Stay tuned for thinking on what is lovely…

Humanizing the Dehumanized

Prostitution is a dehumanizing path into which most in the trade are deceived or coerced. Selling one’s body for survival is for the desperate, the last resort for the victims of bone-crushing poverty and social marginalization. She is simply human “merchandise” to the heartless broker and the soulless buyer.

There’s no way to put a nice sheen on it. Bludgeoning the bodies of others and stealing their souls for nothing but money is a coldblooded insult to the Creator and the people he loves.

“What if we looked at our world with pity and not with blame?” asks Elaine Heath. “What if we heard God’s call to evangelize out of love instead of fear, hope instead of judgment? What if we saw sin for the complex mixture it is, grounded in wounds and unmet needs? In short, what would it mean to read our world with a hermeneutic of love?”

– Originally published in Reaching Rahab: Joining God In His Quest For Friends